Considering the Cheese Making

My wife and I are very interested in trying to make our own cheese. Can someone guide me to standard instructions (along with equipment needed) into preparing cheese? There may have been a thread with some of this detail but I didn't see it. We have been homebrewing for quite a while and thought about giving the cheese making a shot. Also, is the flavor of the cheese alot better than any store-bought stuff you buy? From what I've seen, it looks really cool.

Thanks!

This is what we have
3 gallon ss pot
A few cheese molds
Some cheese cloth
A ladle looking thing with holes in it to scoop out curd
A curd knife
A colander
Thermometer
Homemade cheese press. Pics of it are in this forum
Cheese wax
Boar hair brushes but will be using a silicone BBQ brush next time
A few bowls
Ingredients, mainly from Austin homebrew

So far, so good.

Actually never mind. I was going to recommend the sticky, but it looks like all the pics have gone from it. It was a nice step by step.

Tried making cheese for the first time yesterday. Two gallons of milk. So far all seems well. Maybe used too much annatto,2 tsp. Drying now for a couple days before waxing.

Time to wax the cheese. I melted 2 lbs of wax in an aluminum pan inside an electric skillet. Took quite awhile to get it to 240 F, but this was my first time so took it slow. Dipped the cheese into the wax in stages, 6 seconds for each dip. Did this twice. It came out nice. I reclaimed a dormitory fridge from my son for a cheese cave. It is set to 11 C, also checking it with my brewing thermometer. The cheese looks pretty lonely in there. I need to get busy and make some more.

After all that work I see I put the wrong date on the cheese. Should be 3/17/13.

Thanks for the pics and advice everyone! This looks like something I will definitely have to give a shot. Bigcorona, what type of milk did you use for making this cheese?

I bought the milk at HEB, a local grocery chain in south Texas. It was their Central Market Organics brand. Grade A, pasteurized, homogenized. No synthetic hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides.
Whole milk.

Two gallons resulted in a 1 lb 14.5 oz cheese after dry, before wax.

I was going to suggest the Ricki Carrol starter kit and basic cheese making book. I have both and they really helped me get started making something a bit more exotic than basic mozzarela or cheddar. Currently I have several rounds of waxed jack cheese with Jalapenos and degreased pepperoni ground into a fine powder along with the peppers. It has been ageing for about 6 months so far and the last round I tasted dissappeared rather quickly with just two of us "tasting" it pretty regularly. The book contains all kinds of recipes and has all kinds of time saving shortcuts and a really nice DIY cheese press, definately worth the money for both the kit and the book. Have a great time doing it and you can match your cheeses to your brews and invite freinds over for Hours Deouvers (SP?). Dont forget to post some pics of your projects too.

Wheelchair Bob

You had me stumped for a moment with 'Hours deouvers', but i think you meant appetizers, or as they call them in France, hors d'oeuvres.

And I second you on the Carroll book. I've just bought it along with 'Mastering Artisanal Cheesemaking' and am really enjoying reading both. When I work up the confidence, I'll get started making cheeses to go with my brews.